Senator admits role in criminal investigation

Prosecutor: ‘I frankly felt violated’
Iglesias said last week that he was shocked to receive two separate phone calls in mid-October from lawmakers who asked about details of the investigation and seemed eager to see an indictment before the 2006 election.

“I frankly felt violated,” Iglesias said. “They were very troubling phone calls.”

When Iglesias testifies Tuesday before the House panel, he is expected to say that Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., contacted him to discuss moving forward on indictments in a high-profile corruption case involving a Democrat before the November congressional elections, according to a Democratic aide who is familiar with Iglesias’ planned testimony.

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly before the hearings.

Corruption in the New Mexico Democratic Party was a major issue in Wilson’s re-election campaign and further indictments might have helped her. Wilson last week refused to say if she had contacted Iglesias, referring questions about “that personnel matter” to the Justice Department.

Firings arouse Democratic ire
Iglesias is one of eight U.S. attorneys who were fired in December, some without cause, according to the department. Federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the president and can be fired for any reason, or none at all.

Congressional Democrats say the firings indicate the Bush administration is using a new part of the terrorism-fighting Patriot Act to reward political allies with coveted jobs as U.S. attorneys without having to submit them to Senate confirmation.

This provision, enacted a year ago with the law’s reauthorization, removes a time limit by which the Senate must confirm appointees to such jobs. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, however, has said he intends to submit the name of every nominee to vacant U.S. attorney job to the Senate for confirmation.

The House Judiciary subcommittee that subpoenaed Iglesias also issued subpoenas for three other dismissed U.S. attorneys — Carol Lam of California, H.E. “Bud” Cummins of Arkansas and John McKay of Seattle.

The Senate also has asked those four and two others, Daniel Bogden of Nevada and Paul Charlton of Arizona to appear voluntarily at a hearing Tuesday.

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